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Sullivan Knoth
Sullivan KnothSullivan Knoth is an antagonist featured in Outlast 2. Background Sullivan Knoth was born sometimes in 1933. He was the age of Christ at crucifixion when he first heard the voice of The Lord. It was 1966 and he was a shoe salesman in Albuquerque, New Mexico, about to lose his home to mounting debts he could not pay. He turned in desperation to late-night Evangelical radio but found no comfort in the voice preaching against the evils of extramarital fornication. But as he listened, he began to hear something underneath the preacher's voice: disguised in static was the true voice of God. God told Sullivan that he was sorely displeased with the world and its churches, and needed a brave new prophet. Sullivan walked out into the night and saw in the dark sky a vision like that of the Prophet Ezekiel. It was a terrible angel, a many-faced creature crowned in fire, surrounded by “wheels within wheels.” It bore a prophecy that the end of days would arrive within Sullivan's lifetime, and only his guidance could lead a chosen few towards Paradise instead of everlasting torment. Filled with purpose, Sullivan abandoned all his earthly possessions, (which technically belonged to the bank anyway,) and began to preach in the streets of Albuquerque. His passion inspired the lost and disaffected, and they flocked to him. Within a year he had dozens of followers, all of whom had donated all their earthly possessions to the nascent church dubbed “Testament of the New Ezekiel.” They lived communally on a luxury ranch owned by a wealthy woman named Lydia Degan. Sullivan continue to receive messages from God, which he faithfully recorded in a book of verse he called “The Gospel of Knoth.” Sullivan encouraged all the women of his flock to breed frequently, even generously offering his own seed to the cause. He personally delivered each baby, guided by a secret purpose vital to mankind's salvation. It was the home births that gave New Mexico police the legal authority to crack down on the cult. With a warrant for health and safety violations, police raided Degan's ranch and arrested a dozen cult members. Knoth barely escaped with a handful of followers. All of their assets seized, the church was in serious danger of falling apart. Following the guidance of Moses and Abraham, Sullivan Knoth climbed a mountain alone to commune with God. He waited on the mountaintop, naked in the wilderness, until God's voice commanded that he sacrifice an eye in exchange for true vision. Knoth unsheathed his knife and slit his left eyeball open. As the blood poured down his face, the veil of reality fell away and Knoth saw with absolute certainty the destiny of his church. He foresaw a town, deep in the wilderness and hidden from civilization, that would be the gateway to the true temple of the Testament of the New Ezekiel. He would call this town Temple Gate, and take his followers there to prepare for the tribulations of the End Times. Sullivan Knoth warned his flock that the road would be long and the horrors many, and they would all be forced to make difficult sacrifices and impossible choices in the hope of salvation and paradise everlasting. It was the winter of 1969 when Sullivan Knoth and nearly a hundred followers caravanned out into the desert and left this wicked world behind. References